Extended Essay: Eliot, Austen, Foreman

In a formidable Transition Year Extended Essay, Emma Moore compared three books on the theme 'relationships': the classic novels Middlemarch by George Eliot and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and the recent biography Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman. This essay focusses particularly on women's lives during the 18th and 19th century in England.

Emma writes: I chose these books because they all have the same central theme; relationships. I chose this theme because I find it interesting to see how relationships can be affected by many different things, and how many different relationships there can be between people. It also interested me to see how the characters in the three different books overcame the same problems but in their own separate ways, showing that every person has their own way of dealing with things.

Read Emma's full essay here.

Extended Essay: Orwell, Welsh, Palahniuk

Michael Kemp received a Commendation for a formidable and wide-ranging Transition Year Extended Essay on 'Transgressive Fiction', in which he compared George Orwell's 1984, Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club.

Michael writes: The term Transgressive Fiction was coined in the last twenty years although the works of Marquis De Sade from the 17th century are certainly the first of the genre; but most novels put under obscenity trails have been considered Transgressive (even James Joyce’s Ulysses). Transgressive fiction has a wide base, from the work of the 50s New Age Beat Writers, to the bitter realism of Hubert Selby Jr. and the drug fuelled accounts of Hunter S. Thompson’s dying American Dream, have all set the foundations for Transgressive Fiction.

The Genre really soared during the 90s with the rise of alternative rock and its anti-establishment subculture. Also the arrivals of Transgressive protégés Bret Easton Ellis, Irvine Welsh and Chuck Palahniuk increased the Transgressive writer’s influence. This led to the extreme success of Douglas Copeland’s Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (which he recently released a similarly titled novel containing the same subject matter called Generation A, intended for our own generation). Transgressive fiction is still young and each of its voices has a signature style, subject matter varies from across the globe. The trend in Britain being that its subjects are the lower and working class; while in America they focus on the mediocrity of being middle class.

Read Michael's full essay here.

Extended Essay: Green, Brockmeier, Albom

Rosie Agnew received a Commendation for her thoughtful essay on 'Life After Death' in three books: Looking for Alaska by John Green, The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier, and The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.

She writes: The three novels I chose to study all delve into very different possibilities of the afterlife. As it is an extremely complicated subject, with no simple explanation, it is important to understand how the themes of the novels interlace and intertwine with the influences that govern ideas of life after death. It is very unclear what the basis of a lot of speculations regarding the hereafter is. The most influential force would certainly be that of religion.

The followers of Christianity follow the words of the prophet Jesus Christ, and believe that after we die we go to a place called Heaven, and we become angels. This, however, is only if we have been faithful to God within our lives. If we have not, or if we have somehow behaved wrongly, we may go to Hell. In between these two lies Purgatory and this is where Kevin Brockmeier retrieves the foundations to build his story around. His is possibly the most complicated literary piece of them all; because the story is built very slowly as the reader must take the book chapter by chapter in order to be able to understand it. As each member of the living realm within the book dies, the only people left in Purgatory, or the City as it is so called, are the ones which Laura still remembers. When people we love pass away, we often have a passionate longing to see them again, or, more simply put, we miss them, sometimes for years after their death. A lesson that has to be learned is that we cannot still rely on the dead to comfort us, for they are gone to a different place now, one which we cannot reach without being there ourselves.

Read Rosie's full essay here.

Journeys: Meek, Adamson, Breslin

The latest Extended Essay by a Transition Year pupil to be published here is Mena Fitzgibbon's project about 'Journeys' in three books: The Outsider by Gil Adamson, The People's Act of Love by James Meek, and The Nostradamus Prophecy by Theresa Breslin.

Mena writes: I thought all these books were extremely well written and I was captivated by the worlds that the authors created. The only book I found a little hard to get into was The People's Act of Love and that was only because of the names at the start. However as the book progressed I found it hard to really put it down at all. I know that when I read a book I never really think about the journey they are going through but more at what they are doing at that time. When I went to read these books to refresh my memory I saw them in a new perspective.

At first when I thought about my theme I couldn't think of anything other than physical, moving across country journeys, but once I looked further into it I saw that not only your body goes through the journey but your mind follows but not always in the same way your mind does. On the outside you could be cool and calm but on the inside you could be terrified and frantic. I thought about the causes of people’s journeys and why you would venture in to the unknown.

Read Mena's full essay here.

Conflict: Levi, McEwan, Barry

Today we go on an Exodus break; normal service resumes on Tuesday morning.

The latest in our series of fine Transition Year Extended Essays is by Shannen Keogan, who chose 'conflict' as her theme, and as her books Primo Levi's If This is A Man/The Truce, Ian McEwan's Atonement, and Sebastian Barry's A Long Long Way.

Shannen writes:- Primo Levi’s If this is a man-The Truce is definitely the most descriptive novel I have ever read. When I was reading the novel I was really able to imagine what it must have been like to be imprisoned somewhere like Auschwitz. He accounts everything with such clarity and it is clear that it was such a major experience in his life. He has remembered everything - the numbers of the huts he stayed in and their names, the names of every man he ever met or spoke to and he also remembers every single detail of what happened while he was there. Primo Levi explains in depth what being forced to live in those horrible conditions does to you and he gives us an extraordinary insight into the lives of the people who were displaced there in the Second World War.

Ian McEwan’s writing is completely different to this. He mainly dedicates the novel to Robbie’s experiences at War but also merges this with Robbie’s feelings to return to Cecilia. I think this is very clever. His descriptions of scenes and emotions are of a very high standard and quality but in comparison to If this is a man-The Truce, I thought they were weak and the writing lacked a little intensity as I didn’t feel as horrified or appalled by the conflict like I did in Primo Levi’s book. In saying that, I do think that Ian McEwan is an excellent writer. I thought the ending of his novel was very clever and worthwhile; he leaves the fate of the characters to the reader’s imagination, which is what I think, makes it such a wonderful novel.

Sebastian Barry also has an exceptionally wonderful style of writing. He describes scenes and emotions to a very high standard also but, I don’t think his descriptions are of as high a standard to those of Primo Levi's. He didn’t describe certain scenes with the intensity and emotion that Levi describes scenes. In saying that he writes in a style which compels you to read more and more and I found it very hard to put the novel down. Although it is a grim War story, I sometimes did find some of the chapters quite humorous. Sebastian Barry really brings true Irish humour into the novel, as even though they are fighting in a War there are a few rare moments of laughter amongst the soldiers. This really does make the novel much easier to read and lightens the mood a little.

Read Shannen's full essay here.

Parents and Daughters: Hosseini, Picoult, Mah

The next in our series of Transition Year Extended Essays from last term is by Claire Conway. She compares three books which deal with the relationships between parents and daughters in three different cultures.

Claire writes:

When we were first asked what topic we were keen to write about in our extended essays, various themes flew through my mind. But one in particular struck me most: how women are treated in the Middle East. I’ve read several books about this conflict, as women’s rights have interested me my whole life. As I thought about it closer, I decided to specify my choice more. As I myself am a girl, I thought it would be very interesting to write about the relationships between parents and their daughters in different societies. When you think about it, you realize that even in our modern society, boys and girls aren’t exactly and fully equal. For example, I have noticed that in most books I have read so far the main characters tended to be male (Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas to name but a few). A girl reads books about male characters with great pleasure, but I doubt it is the other way round.

Aware of this, I specifically searched for books in which girls played the main parts. Finally, I decided that I would simply combine my interests and write about daughters, young girls and how their lives and relationships with their parents are affected by the cultures they live in. To create a bigger variety of what I could write about and compare, I decided to choose three books each set in a different country, culture and time. To my astonishment and delight, I discovered three perfect matches: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah and My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. These are set in Afghanistan, China and the US, respectively, three totally different cultures during different time periods. Not only are these books perfect for my choice of theme but the first two are set during periods of major political and social changes in each country. I was glad to know that I would be learning a lot of history by reading these books.

When I got started, I soon realized how much I could interpret and conclude from my choice of books. I find it fascinating how a culture has its own rules and traditions and to be short how people are bound to act and behave towards each other according to that culture. It is easy to understand how a culture can have a huge impact on the upbringing of a child and in my case how this culture can affect the development of girls and their relationships with their parents.

Read Claire's full and impressive essay here.

Youth in Literature: Lee, Andrews, Asher, Kinsella

Oyinda Onabanjo's TY Extended Essay examined the theme of Youth in four novels: Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird, Virginia Andrews's Flowers in the Attic, Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl and Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why.

In her essay, Oyinda writes: When I read a book, I really get into the book. I sympathise with the character and really connect with them.

You can read here her full essay, showing how she connected with the characters from these books.

Status and Change: Russell, Ahern, Cast

We're now publishing the first of this year's selection from the Transition Year Extended Essays. These are comparative literary essays, over 2,500 words long (and often much more). Several more will follow in the coming weeks.

Opeline Kellett wrote on 'status and change' in three fictional works: Willy Russell's play Educating Rita (made into a well-known film in 1983 with Julie Walters and Michael Caine), Cecelia Ahern's The Gift, and Chosen, by PC and Kristen Cast (book 3 of the House of Night series). Opeline defends so-called 'light' fiction passionately, and writes about the last of these books:-

However even though this book is a light read with a simple plot, what it does contain is wonderful. This novel kept me gripped from page one to page three hundred and twenty two. What it has that many other books these days I find don't is that page turning quality. You simply cannot put it down. Zoey may be one of the most annoying characters in history ... However even though she is annoying she keeps you reading. You want to know what will happen to her. You want to know what the outcome of all her stupidity will be, you want to know if she can change it all around and so you just keep reading. I feel that for P.C. and Kristen Cast to create a character which you love to hate yet still want to read about is a talent in itself.

Read the full essay here.